Lara
by EccentricVixen
Summary: POV of a teenage girl the day the titans attacked.


Me and my boyfriend, Axel Lehmann, had finished our chores for the day and were lying in a park in the Shigashina district of the outermost part of the walls, safe behind Wall Maria.

"Lara" Axel whispered, cupping my jaw with a hand and looking deep into my eyes. I didn't mind him touching my face, it made me feel loved and warm inside, "I can't imagine being without you."

I blushed, staring at the floor, pushing my two forefingers together nervously, "I love you." I said with all sincerity, "Do you think our parents will be okay with us?"

"Of course they will." He laughed, "What kind of question is that? They want us to be happy, right?"

I nodded and cuddled closer to him, resting my head on his chest, linking my fingers with his. We lay there for perhaps ten minutes, before the bells started ringing by the southern gate.

"The Recon Corps are back!" Axel said excitedly, jumping to his feet, "They managed to establish the first base outside the walls!"

"But why would you want to?"I asked, but he didn't reply; he was too busy running towards the gate.

My name is Lara Engel, living in the poor outer district of Shigashina. I am fourteen years old, and I'm living within the walls of the last remnants of human civilisation. We live in fear of the titans, behind three fifty-metre walls. All interest with the outside world had been outlawed by the government, and so we lived peacefully. I heard once, from an excited younger boy in the street, that humans populated the planet, nearing somewhere around ten billion in number, and now we're reduced to a million and a quarter humans.

The Recon Corps are the only contact with the outside world we have. They are trained elites, and in my opinion, suicidal to join. Humans have only killed a handful of titans in the last hundred years; and so the death rate in the Recon Corps is painfully high. Titans eat humans. Nobody knows where they came from, how they reproduce, or how they survive. The only interest they have is eating humans, and don't eat anything else. We have _never_ reclaimed land from the titans outside of these walls, but why would we? We're safe here, and the walls will never fall.

I ran after the love of my life half-heartedly, only catching up to him in the crowd by the gate. Nobody was cheering, and the Recon Corps looked grim. One boy was grinning happily at the back of the other side of the crowd, when his face fell as he saw the wounded soldiers, limping or carried in carts. They were covered in blood-soaked bandages and looked half-dead.

I looked at the black and white feathered emblem on the Recon Corps green hooded cloaks with disgust. How many more people were they going to get killed? Why couldn't they leave well enough alone?

"Why are there so few of them?" Axel asked somebody.

"A bunch of them were eaten," the man replied with a sigh, "This is what you get for going outside the walls."

Axel looked defiant, but held his tongue. I couldn't agree more with the man though. Nobody should go outside the walls; you'll just get eaten and die.

"Moses! Moses!" I heard an elderly woman call out, and she staggered in front of some of the officers of the Recon Corps, "My son, Moses... I can't find him. Where is my son?" she trembled, grabbing the cloak of a soldier. He looked down at her, stone-faced.

"It's her: Moses' mother." The soldier said, looking to his wounded friend on the right, "Bring it here."

The wounded soldier walked to the cart, picked up a blood-stained bundle of cloths and threw it on the floor at the woman's feet. She bent down to pick it up, her eyes wide as she stared at the package in her arms.

_Don't open it_, I thought, watching her unwrap it. The old woman looked once at what was inside, gasped, and closed it, starting to cry loudly.

"That was the only part of him could salvage" The soldier told her, as she collapsed to the ground, clutching the bloody rags to her chest.

I took Axel's hand tugging him away, "Let's go." I whispered as the old woman began speaking again. He shook his head, transfixed on the scene unfolding in front of him. I turned and walked home by myself. I had no interest in watching the suffering of idiots who went beyond the wall.

"We still haven't made any progress!" I heard the soldier cry out from behind me. _I knew it_. I mused and picked up the pace for home. I'd catch up with Axel later, for now I had a hot dinner to eat. Dad had managed to get some meat for us. Meat was a rare luxury in the outer wall, and I savoured every bite.

The sun was beginning to set as I walked down the busy street towards Axel's house. Just around this corner when...

**BOOM**

The earth shook under my feet, breaking a few windows and sending store signs swinging wildly. Steam was rising above the wall to the south. Was it an explosion? Were they shooting titans from the walls with the cannons?

Everybody ran towards the town square, towards the sound of the explosion, staring at the top of the wall as a giant red hand gripped it: a titan.

"You're kidding... that will is fifty metres high!" A blonde kid nearby exclaimed, echoing my thoughts.

"It's them." His friend said, as a titan towered over the wall. It was gruesome, and nothing like how I had imagined. The monster was looking over the wall, its skin missing, showing the muscle and flesh beneath its humongous face. I've never heard of a titan this big. Could it break down the wall?

I spun on my heel and began to run towards Axel's house when a second explosion rang out, larger than the first. The wall flew inwards, as the titan had clearly kicked it. Houses were crushed under debris, and people went flying backwards with the force of the impact. I managed to hold my ground though, as I was suitable far away. A piece of rock whipped past me, large enough to take my head off if it had been but half a foot to the right. Boulders rolled along the street, and I sprinted for my boyfriend's house.

We met a few blocks away from his house, running straight into an embrace.

"Is this the end?" I asked him, tears streaming down my face, "I don't want to die."

"No." He replied quickly, "We'll run for the boats to get past Wall Rose."

We weren't too far from the boats. Axel's house wasn't right by the wall, and so wasn't damaged when the titans broke in.

"As long as we're together, we'll be okay." I told him as we ran towards the boats.

Titans' footsteps echoed deafeningly as they walked, and one staggered right in front of us. Where were the military?! They were supposed to protect us in case this happened!

I looked up at the fifteen-metre giant with ash-grey hair and I just froze. It scooped up a man with a huge hand and popped half of him into its mouth, biting him in half with a vacant psychotic grin. Never had I seen anything as bad as this. I couldn't move. Here I was watching people be eaten, my home town destroyed, and I couldn't do anything about it. All I could do was scream and slip over in a puddle of blood as I tried to back away.

"This way!" Axel shouted to me, pulling me to my feet and pushing me first down an alleyway, "We'll be at the boats five minutes."

_Oh shit I'm going to die._ Was all I thought as I sprinted down the alley, my lungs burning. I wasn't used to running, but I wasn't going to let it kill me.

"Lara!" Axel screamed, and I knew instantly what had happened. I looked over my shoulder to see him between two fingers of the titan. _No. No. No. No_. I thought and stopped, staring.

"Run!" The love of my life said to me, "Live!" And then he was gone, down the throat of this beast.

I felt cold inside. I wanted to be sick. My family were probably already dead, and now Axel. _He told me to live. I'm going to live._ I thought to myself, and fled.

A few minutes later I reached the waterfront and there were the boats. Two of them only, already full of people, and a crowd screaming to be let on.

"I'm sorry! We can't fit any more people on board!" The guard shouted, pushing people back. I had to get on that boat, but I couldn't get through the crowd.

The boat began to leave and people were breaking past the guard, leaping for the boat. Most missed but a few tried to scramble aboard.

No fewer than fifteen titans of varying sizes found the crowd of people all at once. I tried to run but was crushed against the bodies of people as people tried to escape the monstrosities scooping people up by the handful and shoving them down their gullets.

_So this is how it ends_, I thought to myself as I myself was grabbed by a titan, _I'm sorry, my love_.

The creature didn't bite through me, but swallowed me whole. As I landed in the burning stomach acid of the beast. It melted my flesh and was swimming in a pool of body parts and dead humans. As I took my final breaths, the last thing that crossed my mind was, _At least I'll be with Axel._

I don't know if days, hours, weeks or months had passed but I felt myself stirring from sleep. I tried to open my eyes but found they were already open. I was in the city, but I was much taller, towering over the houses. Titan sized, perhaps? I tried to move my limbs but I didn't seem to be in control of them. I was walking towards a small group of humans. _Hungry_, was the only thing my body seemed to be telling me.

Author's Note: This is my first Attack on Titan fanfic. If it seems to get favourable responses I'll probably do some more chapters of this. I tried to keep this as canon as possible.


End file.
